Knowledge and Self-care Practices of Adolescent Students with Pre-menstrual Syndrome in Erbil City

Abstract

Background and objectives: Premenstrual syndrome includes recurrent, troublesome physical and emotional symptoms that develop 7–14 days before the onset of menstruation and subsides when menstruation occurs. This study aimed to assess adolescent student's knowledge and self-care practices toward premenstrual syndrome in intermediate and secondary schools at Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Methods: A descriptive study was carried out in primary and secondary schools in Erbil city from January 2018 to June 2018. Purposive (non-probability) sampling technique was used to target 200 adolescent students through in person interviews by a questionnaire. The clinical criterion of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for Premenstrual syndrome was used. Data were presented using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies, percentages, and Chi-Square test. Results: The majority (72.5%) of adolescent students were between ages 13-16 years. The majority (75.5%) of students knew about symptoms of Premenstrual syndrome different from woman to woman or cycle to cycle, while most (63%) of school girls never practiced yoga to decrease Premenstrual syndrome symptoms. The results revealed that the majority of overall study sample, 60% had fair knowledge toward premenstrual syndrome. The assessment of student's mother is fair because majority (42%) of their mothers were illiterate, while most (71.5%) of subjects sometimes used self-care practices to manage or control symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. There was no significant association between levels of knowledge of students with self-care practices. Conclusions: Knowledge and self-care measures about premenstrual syndrome were in-sufficient among the adolescent school girls. Students are needing educational program to increase female awareness and practice about Premenstrual syndrome.